


The Long Way Home

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Destroy Ending, F/F, Femslash Big Bang Monthly Challenge, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 21:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8638735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: After the war, Shepard and Liara find their way to domesticity.





	

They don’t disappear right away, of course.  It takes them months to reunite after the battle to retake Earth.  It takes even longer because Shepard is comatose when Liara finally makes it to the Citadel.  

Liara searches out her contacts, figuring out the full extent of damage to the galaxy.  She maneuvers resources and information to where they’ll be most useful.  Sometimes she sits by Shepard’s bedside, chatting away to her limp body about the status of the galaxy.  Those are good days.

On rare occasion, she has to go somewhere in person.  It’s hard, leaving Shepard behind after everything they’ve been through.  They’ve spent most of their relationship apart, and Shepard needs her now more than ever, but she knows that Shepard would want her to do what’s needed to rebuild the galaxy.  

It seems an impossible task, but then she returns from a trip to see Shepard’s ice blue eyes open for the first time in far too long.  The sight almost makes Liara’s heart stop in joy.  

Rebuilding the galaxy finally feels possible.

“Liara… Tali’s been telling me things,” Shepard says.  “Good you got her away from Rannoch.”

Her voice is slow and strained, like she has to think about the words to use.  It sounds as if she’s in so much pain, but it’s still the familiar voice that Liara has longed to hear.  

Liara wants to say something witty, to make her smile even wider.   _ I had to blackmail her to convince her, but I figured it was worth it. _  Or  _ Just one of many adoring fans, Shepard _ .  Or  _ You’re lucky you woke up before Wrex took his turn sitting with you _ .  But the words don’t come out.

Instead, she crosses the room, falling to her knees beside Shepard’s bed as Tali makes a graceful exit.  Liara reaches for Shepard’s hand, but then pulls away, scared to touch her because she might hurt her.  Scared to touch her because this might not be real.  She cries into the bed as Shepard’s hand falls onto her head.  

“H-How are you?” Liara says, voice catching.  A stupid question, but the only one that matters.

“Reapers are dead,” Shepard says.  “You’re not.  All I wanted.”

“And you’re alive, too,” Liara says.  “I don’t know how, but you’re really alive.”

Shepard’s eyes fall half closed and she nods.  “Too tired to talk now.  Been waiting up for you.”

“Rest.  I’ll be here when you wake up,” Liara says.

“Love you,” Shepard says.

“I love you, too,” Liara says.

Shepard’s eyes fall closed again, but Liara sits and studies her.  She sees the bruises and scrapes warping Shepard’s face nearly beyond recognition, except that Liara would recognize her anywhere.  Her healing has been so slow.  The hand that Shepard rested on her head is her only hand.  Shepard is missing both of her legs, too.  Her chest is wrapped with bandages, the bulk of them visible even under her sheets.  The damage done to her during whatever happened on the Crucible is beyond devastating.  

She knows every detail of the medical situation.  All of the gory details about what happened to her girlfriend, at least from a medical standpoint.  The doctors explained it to her repeatedly.

They had also explained that while it was possible for Shepard to wake up, it was very unlikely.  Everything feels so much brighter now that they’ve been proven wrong.

After Shepard wakes up, there are the months of repair.  Repairing communications, repairing planets, repairing relationships that had been strained by the war.  Shepard working to repair her own body, torn and beaten from her fall to Earth.  Shepard learning how her new body works.

It’s a hard fight for Shepard, Liara can tell.  But they’re alive.  They are both gloriously alive.

* * *

Shepard learns to sit up again and she learns to use the prosthetic limbs.  She knows she’s lucky to be alive; so many have died, including Anderson.  Every time she closes her eyes, she sees his face in those final moments.  One more person that she couldn’t save, in a sea of billions.  

She pushes herself through the rigorous physical therapy with vigor, determined to get up and going.  There are a lot of other soldiers and civilians in the same situation, and she makes friends with some of them.  It helps.

Eventually, she makes public appearances.  The Alliance wants to give her medals, the Council wants to give her metals, and so does every other sentient race in the galaxy- even the Batarians, albeit somewhat begrudgingly.  As much as she hates the pomp and circumstance, she knows it’s an opportunity to raise morale for the rest of the galaxy, so she does her duty again and again.

Her favorite is standing on Tuchanka, Liara by her side.  Grunt runs out to greet her first, almost knocking her off of her prosthetic legs.  Then, Wrex and Bakara come forward, their kids in tow.  

“It is good to see you again, Commander,” Bakara says, looking much healthier.

“I knew it’d take more than a Reaper to knock you down!” Wrex practically crows.

“It was close,” Shepard says, grinning over at Liara, “but I had a pretty good reason to survive.”

Liara has a similar smile.  “Yes, well, let’s not put that to the test again.”

“So when are you going to have some kids of your own, hm?  I expect that the first blue baby will be named after her Uncle Wrex!” Wrex says. 

Suddenly, both of them are blushing and definitely not looking at each other.  While things are more normal now- no one has shot at them in months- they haven’t talked a lot about the future.  To a certain extent, Shepard had wanted to live in the little post-war bubble for a while, but she also does want the little blue babies...  

“Wrex, leave them alone.  The commander and her mate came to be honored, not badgered,” Bakara says.  “Although, your family will always be welcome on Tuchanka.”

The rest of the visit goes much smoother, and with fewer questions about their personal lives.

* * *

“What do you think?” Shepard broaches the subject hesitantly when she’s laying in bed that night.  They’re staying in a small shack in the Kelphic Valley.  There are better accommodations elsewhere on the planet, but she wanted to stay here.  

“I’m not wrestling Grunt.  I don’t care if he’s making sure that his ‘battlemom’ has a proper mate,” Liara says, shaking her head as she pulls her pajamas on.  “What  _ is  _ a battlemom, anyway?”

“Battlemaster and mom,” Shepard says affectionately.  “But that’s not what I meant.  I meant little blue babies.”

Liara pauses before turning towards her.  She examines her with a closeness that makes Shepard feel naked in a way that goes much deeper than her skin.  It’s a ridiculous feeling, considering how deeply intimate they are with each other on a regular basis.  

“I think children are an incredible idea.  The galaxy has stabilized since the end of the Reaper threat,” Liara says.  “There’s still a lot of work to do, though.”

“There’s always going to be more work to do.  There’d be more work to do even if the Reapers didn’t exist,” Shepard says.  “There’s never been a time in any cycle where there wasn’t more work to do.”

“That’s true enough,” Liara says with a laugh.

“There’s something else.  When- if- we have children, I want to step back from public life.  I don’t want our children to grow up celebrities, and I want to be able to focus on them, not the rest of the galaxy,” Shepard says.  

It’s a scary thought; her entire adult life has been devoted to public service.  She wants to be equally devoted to her family, given the chance.

“Child _ ren _ ?” Liara asks in an inscrutable tone.  “Do you think we should have more than one?”

“I liked having siblings,” Shepard says.  Even if life took most of them away.  “Sometimes they were the only kids on the ships our parents served on.”

“That sounds nice, Shepard.  A couple of little blue babies sounds nice,” Liara says.  “We could raise them on Earth and Thessia.  Split time between our two planets.”

“We don’t have to spend time on Earth.  I think I’ve seen enough of Earth for a while,” Shepard says.  “Maybe we could spend my half of the year on Tuchanka.”

There are happy shouts from outside and the sounds of two krogan butting heads together.  The noise makes her smile up at the ceiling.  She’s lived on ships her whole life, but she thinks that she could get used to living on this planet.  

“You really like the krogan, don’t you?” Liara says as she joins her on the bed, laying on her side and propping her head up with one hand.  “Should I be jealous?”

Shepard tilts her head and grins up her girlfriend.  “Yes, I’m about to leave you for all the krogan women on the planet.  Shhh.”  

Liara laughs, her nose crinkling adorably.  “You’ll have to make it worth my while, Shepard.”

“Come down here and I will,” Shepard says with a grin.  

“Irresistible,” Liara murmurs against her lips.

* * *

**[half a year later]**

Something tingles in Shepard when she slides into the pilot seat of the ship they’ve bought.  It’s a small frigate, sleek and fast, with ample room for Liara’s Shadow Broker set up.  Just because Shepard wanted to step back from public life, doesn’t mean that Liara has to step back from her secret life.

“Are you sure that you can pilot this ship?” Liara teases, looking at her from the co-pilot’s seat.  “You  _ have  _ spent your whole life being driven around, after all.”

“Eh,” Shepard says, starting the ship up.  “I’ve watched Joker do it enough.  How hard can it be?”

Liara laughs.  “Oh, good.  I’m comforted completely.”

“Don’t worry.  I know that we have precious cargo on board,” Shepard says.

Her eyes sweep over Liara’s body, pausing on the swell of her belly.  Their child is growing inside Liara, strong and beautiful, and they are going to make a home in time for her birth.  They’ve spent so much time preparing for this.  Maybe even since before they met.

“I love you.  Both,” Shepard says with a smile.  

“We both love you, too,” Liara says.  

Shepard sets course for Thessia, watching as the stars blur familiarly.  She’s gone many places, but it’s never felt quite this sweet.  They’ve set course for their new life, at long last.  Finding a home has taken so long, but it’s so worth it. 


End file.
